Founded in 2004, the California Alpine Club Foundation has funded many outdoors education endeavors,
including the Friends of Corte Madera Creek Watershed, White Hill School Project.

The California Alpine Club Foundation

Local Foundation Makes a Difference

The California Alpine Club Foundation gives small grants annually to organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area and around Lake Tahoe (where the Club’s Echo Summit Lodge is located) that support conservation and environmental education endeavors. Established with an endowment from late Club member Henry Hillman of San Francisco, the California Alpine Club Foundation was incorporated as a State of California 501(c)(3) non-profit in 2004 (Tax ID is IR-2010-59), and relies on CAC member donations to supplement the endowment’s interest.

All donations to the Foundation are fully tax-deductible. If you would like to make a donation by mail please send check payable to ‘CACF’, to California Alpine Club Foundation, P.O. Box 2180, Mill Valley, CA 94942.

CACF FUNdraising is Fun

We normally hold two fundraising every year. In the spring, members Karen and Jerry Wagner host a Birding and Conservation week at the Echo Summit Lodge, proceeds of which go to the Foundation. In the fall, we host an afternoon benefit with live music, food and wine at the Alpine Lodge, again with all proceeds going to the Foundation.

While donations to CAC’s California Alpine Club Foundation—a 501(c)(3)—are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law, the California Alpine Club—a 501(c)(7) non-profit—also gladly accepts donations that apply directly to the Club’s operating budget and are not tax-deductible.

Meaningful Results

In 2013, the Point Reyes National Seashore Association once again received a CACF grant for tarp shelters for the children’s summer camp program.

CAC member Arlin Weinberger of San Rafael has served as CACF Board President since 2008, along with up to five other Club members. Together, the Board considers grant nominations and determines CACF awards throughout the year. Any Club member can make nominations to the Board by contacting any CACF board member.

Pantoll & Bootjack Campground Hosts on Mt. Tam

The CAC Foundation usually gives small grants (up to $2000), yet we made an exception in 2012 and awarded $10,000 to help Mount Tamalpais State Park establish a host campsite (for an RV) near the Pantoll Ranger Station on Mt. Tamalpais. CACF paid for the water, electricity and sewer connections so that on-site campground host may help campers, sell firewood, and collect fees at this popular destination. After more than four decades, fifteen historic campsites were re-opened at Bootjack Campground in October 2013, so on-site host services are especially important.

Making Connections, Building Our Future

The California Alpine Club Foundation is especially interested in outdoors-oriented education programs for children. An introduction to a wilderness opportunity can change a child’s life, and become a lifelong interest. Families that play together, stay together … and we support educational and volunteer experiences for kids, and their families, that are proven, local to our membership community, and with goals that are amenable to the California Alpine Club Purposes. To see a complete list of CACF grant recipients visit the CAC + CACF Affiliates page. Please support these venerable organizations and local conservation projects where you live. The future of outdoors California belongs to us!

CACF Awards Eleven Grants in 2017

1. Marin Audubon Society: To buy native plants for wetlands restoration in Corte Madera. 2. Friends of Corte Madera Creek Watershed: For a wildlife camera. 3. Pt Reyes National Seashore Association: To buy sleeping bags for scholarship students on summer backpacking trips. 4.Slide Ranch: To help fund schoolchildren’s trips to Slide Ranch. 5. Watershed Alliance of Marin: For educational materials on the health of Marin’s creeks. 6. West Point Inn: For the construction of a new information sign outside the Inn on Mt. Tam. 7. Eldorado National Forest Interpretive Association and Desolation Wilderness Volunteers – For “Leave No Trace” materials, and tools for campsite restoration. 8. Center for Sierra Nevada Conservation: For boulders to protect certain areas. 9. Pacific Crest Trail Association: To support the Tahoe Trail Skills College (50 participants). 10.Tahoe Rim Trail Association: To support an online outreach and education program. 11.Tahoe Institute for Natural Science: For educational supplies, a portable projector screen and field trip supplies for outdoor education programs.

CACF Awards Eight Grants in 2016

1. Pt Reyes National Seashore Association: For outdoor clothing for scholarship students on overnight backpacking trips. 2. West Point Inn: For weather station on Mt Tamalpais. 3. Slide Ranch: To enable a class of 25 to participate in environmental education programs. 4.Tahoe Rim Trail Association: To purchase 20 trail and bike counters. 5. Eldorado National Forest Interpretive Association: For visitor information projects. 6. Center for Sierra Nevada Conservation: For all-terrain heavy-duty tires for the vehicle used in trail restoration projects. 7. Pacific Crest Trail Association: To support the three-day Tahoe Trail Skills College. 8.Tahoe Institute for Natural Science: For snowshoes to be used on school outdoor education field trips.

CACF Awards Eight Grants in 2015

1.Tahoe Rim Trail Association: To support youth backcountry camps this summer for kids 12 to 17. 2.Eldorado National Forest Interpretive Association: To purchase three backpacks loaded withbackcountry emergency supplies and for trail maintenance supplies for Desolation Wilderness volunteers. 3.Pacific Crest Trail Association: To contribute to the Tahoe Trail Skills College, the three-day training for 40 to 50 volunteers, helping with the cost of meals, kitchen supplies, printed materials. 4.Tahoe Institute for Natural Science: To print materials for natural history field trips for local schools and purchase related items. 5.Pt. Reyes National Seashore Association: For youth backpacks and backpacking stoves to be used in five Summer Camp programs. 6.Friends of Corte Madera Creek Watershed: To pay for tree removal and a replanting project with White Hill Middle school.7 Slide Ranch: To enable a class of 25 children to participate in environmental programs. 8.Marin Audubon Society: To purchase over 500 plants to restore tidal marsh lands next to the Corte Madera Ecological Reserve.

CACF Awards Nine Grants in 2013

The California Alpine Club turned 100 years old in 2013! In our centennial year, the CAC Foundation awarded nine grants totaling $15,300 to local organizations in the San Francisco Bay and the Lake Tahoe areas. These grants went to:

1. Tahoe Institute for Natural Science for three bird-banding trips for local school children. 2. Tahoe Rim Association for trail signs, gloves and hard hats for volunteers, and to offset first aid training fees. 3. Pacific Crest Trail Association to help support a three-day volunteer training event (meals, facility rental, printed materials). 4. Eldorado National Forest Interpretive Association for a Junior Ranger Program. 5. Point Reyes National Seashore Association for six large tarp shelters for summer camp. 6. Marin Audubon Society for a power wagon (motorized hand cart) for hauling water to habitat restoration sites. 7. Friends of Corte Madera Creek Watershed for removal of eucalyptus trees. 8. Slide Ranch for 25 low-income students to participate in Slide Ranch’s environmental education programs. 9. San Bruno Mountain Watch for the Adaptive Management Research project at the Native Plant Nursery.